He Pānui Kōhungahunga
Special bulletin – 22 September 2022
He Pānui Kōhungahunga
Ahiahi mārie,
This bulletin provides clarification on the item we published in last week’s bulletin on non-enrolled children visiting licensed early childhood education and care centres.
We have also refreshed our guidance on safety checking requirements and provide information on recent amendments to licensing criteria.
Ka nui tēnei
Iona
Clarification: Non-enrolled children visiting education and care centres
Last week we provided guidance on non-enrolled children visiting education and care centres. We’re aware some service providers have understood the guidance to mean that they cannot have any additional children attending over and above their licence maximum numbers.
Please note that the guidance acknowledges that for practical purposes there will be times that licence maximums will be exceeded, for example at pick up and drop off times or when a parent and child is visiting to potentially enrol in the service.
If your centre run events/activities where there are additional adults and children on site during licensed hours of operation you need to consider how to manage these events/activities without compromising the supervision and standard of education and care provided to enrolled children.
Safety checking information
We have refreshed our website so that all the information you need regarding the safety checking requirements of the Children’s Act 2014 is easily accessible. The information can be found on our website:
Rules for services – Ministry of Education
We have also developed resources that will support you with the safety checking record keeping requirements. These resources can be found on our website:
Licensing and certification criteria updates
We have recently updated some licensing criteria for centre-based services, kōhanga reo, home-based services, hospital-based services and certification criteria for playgroups.
These amendments are not expected to result in any change in practice for services.
Most amendments are minor or technical and include amending dates and organisation names, ensuring consistency with legislation across the different licensing criteria, and removing an outdated definition.
Other amendments are clarifications. The following have been amended in the Centre-based Licensing Criteria (and other corresponding licensing and certification criteria):
- PF3: Amending wording to improve consistency with the Building Act 2004
- PF10: Clarifying that facilities need to be hygienic
- HS8: Clarifying the frequency of drills with improved guidance that clarifies the drills that need to be carried out with children
- GMA7A: Amending wording to more clearly align with the Children’s Act 2014.
The infectious diseases table has also been updated. Note that COVID-19 has not been added to the infectious diseases table as it is considered an active and ongoing pandemic.
PDF versions of the licensing and certification criteria are available for you to download and display at your service. These can be found on our website:
Licencing criteria for ECE services – Ministry of Education
You can see the specific amendments to all licensing and certification criteria here:
Hospital-based Licensing Criteria Amendments [PDF, 140 KB]
Kohanga Reo Licensing Criteria Amendments [PDF, 169 KB]
Playgroups Certification Criteria Amendments [PDF, 131 KB]